


Than It Is To Receive

by Elizabeth Culmer (edenfalling)



Series: The Way of the Apartment Manager [11]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Birthday Party, Families of Choice, Family, Gen, Pre-Canon, Prompt Fic, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-23
Updated: 2018-04-23
Packaged: 2019-04-26 23:53:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14413179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edenfalling/pseuds/Elizabeth%20Culmer
Summary: Naruto discovers the joy of birthday parties. (Part of the "Apartment Manager" AU.)





	Than It Is To Receive

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AlexSeanchai (EllieMurasaki)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EllieMurasaki/gifts).



> Written 4/13/18 for [alexseanchai](https://alexseanchai.dreamwidth.org), in response to the prompt: _BIRFDAY, Naruto ...actually that's probably a scenario in itself XD_. It is also a fill for the [Genprompt Bingo](https://genprompt_bingo.dreamwidth.org) square _another year older: birthdays_.

"Hey, hey, Yukiko-neechan, when's your birthday?"

Yukiko looked up from her tempura and raised her eyebrows. "January 17. Why?"

Naruto made a disgruntled face. "That's forever away. And Sakura-chan's birthday isn't till March, and Shinnin's isn't till _May_. It was really cool getting presents for the first time last week, and I wanna make everybody else feel special like that! I wanna throw a party and buy presents and make a cake. But everybody I know has birthdays at stupid inconvenient times."

Yukiko's eyebrows climbed higher. "Parties are a lot of work and presents cost money to buy or time to make, but if that's what you want, we can figure something out. Like, oh... why not a friendship appreciation party for Shinnin-kun and Sakura-kun? Or a teacher appreciation party for Iruka? You could even throw a belated party for Kakashi -- I think his birthday was in September, but he's so secretive we could just pretend we thought his birthday was this week and he won't correct us because that would mean revealing personal information."

Naruto scrunched his nose in thought. "Um. It'd be funny to mess with Kakashi, but maybe kind of mean, too. And that's not what parties are for. Let's do the teacher party for Iruka. That way I don't have to keep it a secret from Shinnin and Sakura-chan. Maybe they can help out!"

"Maybe," Yukiko agreed, already planning strategies for roping the girls' respective parents into the planning loop. (Teacher appreciation should be an easy sell, even with Naruto in the mix. And sacrificing her kitchen to the kids' baking attempts should win another few points.) "You can ask them tomorrow."

"And if I practice now on Iruka, I can make sure _your_ birthday party is the best ever!" Naruto added, waving his chopsticks for emphasis; one slipped through his fingers and flew across the table. "'Cause I remember you didn't have one last winter, and that's no good. Everybody deserves parties, and when I'm Hokage, I'm gonna make sure everybody gets them. So there."

"I've heard worse plans for spending our municipal tax levies," Yukiko said dryly, fishing the stray chopstick out of her windbreaker's hood. (Yuck. Oh well, she'd been planning to do laundry tonight anyway.)

"Well, _yeah_. Because my plans are awesome," Naruto said firmly. "Hey, hey, do you know what kind of cake Iruka likes? I wanna make sure we get everything perfect."

Yukiko leaned across the table and pressed the chopstick back into Naruto's hand. "You're a ninja, kid. Find out for yourself."


End file.
